Computer Engineer Charged with Theft of Proprietary Computer Code

Zhengquan Zhang arrested for stealing over 3 million files containing company trade secrets from his employer, a global finance firm.

Zhengquan Zhang of California has been arrested and charged by a US federal court with stealing trade secrets from his employer, a New York financial services firm. A US Department of Justice (DoJ) release says that between March 2016 and March 2017, Zhang stole over three million files of confidential data and computer code.

According to the DoJ, Zhang stole the company’s source code for algorithmic trading models and trading platforms by installing a code that gained access to the network’s encryption keys. He allegedly also stored the stolen files on his employer’s network before installing another code to transfer the data to a third-party software development site.

William F. Sweeney Jr. of the FBI says, “Proprietary computer code may not be a tangible asset that people can observe, but it is indeed one of the most critical assets that companies possess.”

Zhang is also accused of illegally accessing the computers of his co-workers by stealing user credentials.

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